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The purpose of this thread is to discuss, critique and idolize the Voice Actor cast of Fullmetal Alchemist. Please remember that the discussion should center on their performances as professional voice actors and not on the show content (which can be discussed in the various Episode threads). Please remember this simple rule when critiquing a VA's performance or reading another forum member's critique:

Don't take it personally.
In other words, you’re free to disagree with another person’s opinion, but don’t flame them if they offer a well written and well thought out analysis that differs from your own opinion. Keep it civil.

Voice Actors are human.
Yes, it’s true. They’re human. Therefore, don’t just indiscriminately rip them and their work apart as if they’re inorganic objects. You don’t have to praise them non-stop, but be thoughtful in your criticism.

This thread might duplicate some discussion in the Episode threads, but it can also serve to demystify various VA roles, disseminate VA information (VA Bios, VA photos, etc) and provide cast information of various types as well as discussion about performances.

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Generally I've never been a big fan of anything dubbed, though I will say that the dubbed voices for Ed and Al, in my opinion, are fantastic. It's perhaps the only dubbed Anime that I've actually taken a liking to. And as for the original voices in the Japanese version, I think it should go without saying what amazing talents they are too ^^

There are only three anime that I've seen that I have either truly enjoyed the dubbed versions or thought the english was better than the japanese version.

Fullmetal Alchemist is one of those three. Another is G-Gundam, but I can't remember the last one. I KNOW there's one more, but its name escapes me. Damn, I have seen way too many anime to keep them all straight in my disorganized head. Maybe DBZ? I dunno. Probably.

Though I hate to say it, depite the fact that for the most part I think the voice acting in the japanese version is superb, I really don't like Edward's seiyuu. I don't know why... there's just something about Edward being voiced by a woman that bugs me and distracts me away from whatever it is he's saying. I like Vic Mignogna way better than Romi Paku, personally. Given that Ed and Al are the main characters that we see (and hear) ALL THE TIME, that really was a clincher for me.

Well, as a sub fan, I respect Romi-san as a successor of sorts to Ogata Megumi: women who sound convincing as young boys. Kobayashi Sanae is somewhat convincing as well, but when you have ladies like Noto Mamiko voicing a young boy, something is just not right.

Generally, I prefer the japanese seiyuus over the american dubs. And in FMA, i'd say it still holds true. I watched like 15 episodes in english, and then re-watched the 15 in japanese audio just because i liked the voices so much more in japanese...Idk why, but whenever i listen to the english dubs, something just doesn't "feel" right/click with me...it just all seems very cheesy. And perhaps that might be the fact that i don't understand japanese completely, so it sounds better, but i still feel that in general, the japanese voice actors sound more "convincing"/less "fake".

As a general rule of thumb, seiyu do sound more convincing and do so more consistently than dub actors. Competition is stiff, especially among the ladies. If you don't have what it takes, someone else is going to get the role.

I think over all the FMA dub is one of the best I have heard (the best is Bebop's). Everyone did a very good job. Favorites were Vic as ED and Wendy Powell as Envy.

I can understand how some people say that original seiyuu performances are better than dubs in general.

BUT, I think in context a lot of anime is TERRIBLY over acted compared to regular japanese acting like how we complain about in dubs.

The only MAJOR beef I have with modern dubs is that there is such a small talent pool compared with the seiyuu. Many modern dub actors are quite competent but compared to many non anime american voice actors they don't play characters by way of disguising their voices so often it's hard to wrap your head around one actor playing a certain character, no matter how much energy they have, it can't save the fact that they were miscast (For me that was ViC Migconiga playing Tamaki Sou in Ouran or Wendee Lee playing the famous Haruhi).

Regular Japanese acting? Well, the J-drama craze of the 90s had died long ago, at least here in Singapore. As I discussed somewhere else, the main difference between live action and anime is the ability of the animators to project body language and facial expression. In live action, the actor/actress in the role has to do the job. In animation, the animators have to get it right.

Let's face it: The animators go for over-the-top expressions and body language. If the voice doesn't go along with it, we'll have a problem somewhere. Personally, I'll take "trying too hard" over "not bothering at all" any day.

I'd usually take subbed over dubbed any day of the week, but after trying FMA in both formats, the dubbed version just floored me. Vic/Dismuke/Willingham did masterful jobs as Ed/Al/Roy with the rest of the cast rounding up the nicely done, English dubbing of the series.

I think over all the FMA dub is one of the best I have heard (the best is Bebop's). Everyone did a very good job. Favorites were Vic as ED and Wendy Powell as Envy.

I can understand how some people say that original seiyuu performances are better than dubs in general.

BUT, I think in context a lot of anime is TERRIBLY over acted compared to regular japanese acting like how we complain about in dubs.

The only MAJOR beef I have with modern dubs is that there is such a small talent pool compared with the seiyuu. Many modern dub actors are quite competent but compared to many non anime american voice actors they don't play characters by way of disguising their voices so often it's hard to wrap your head around one actor playing a certain character, no matter how much energy they have, it can't save the fact that they were miscast (For me that was ViC Migconiga playing Tamaki Sou in Ouran or Wendee Lee playing the famous Haruhi).

Really, I find regular Japanese acting to be slightly more overacted than anime, but then that's probably because I can actually see their faces when they have to emote and hoooooo boy....

Personally, I do have minor issues with Japanese being used in non-Japanese settings, despite the medium. It's that often these minor issues are quite insignificant compared to the dub coming out badly.

For the second series I do hope that Vic Mignogna (sp?) reprises his role as Edward Elric (it just wouldn't feel like Full Metal Alchemist without him imo), and possibly a newer young kid to replace the original VA for Al, since he has probably hit puberty by now and his voice would be deeper. Wendy Powell definitely needs to come back as Envy, she owned the tole

Generally I've never been a big fan of anything dubbed, though I will say that the dubbed voices for Ed and Al, in my opinion, are fantastic. It's perhaps the only dubbed Anime that I've actually taken a liking to. And as for the original voices in the Japanese version, I think it should go without saying what amazing talents they are too ^^

I would agree here - not a fan of dubs, but this was one of the very best. It's hard to top Paku Romi and Ed sounded like a 40 year-old man in the dub, but Aaron Dismuke was light years ahead of Kugimiya Rie as Al.